


The Rebel Queen

by arpita



Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 08:03:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19763974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arpita/pseuds/arpita
Summary: Avantika orients herself to the Maahishmati Palace.





	The Rebel Queen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MayavanavihariniHarini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayavanavihariniHarini/gifts), [Inkn1ght1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkn1ght1/gifts), [Ratna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ratna/gifts).



_The Maahishmati Palace,_ differed widely from her usual environs, Avanthika thought the moment she entered the Palace. 

_Yes, it was a ruin worse than ever, and Bhallaladeva's dismembered statue made it even worse._

_Not that it was any better earlier, Maahishmati was a ruin in every sense of the word. Figurative and otherwise._

Yet, it had a distinct grandeur in it, as if reminiscent of its old glory. 

"It will take a lot of work, won't it?" She asked Mahendra almost absent-mindedly one night, as the new King retired after a long day.

"I won't deny that it is, in fact overwhelming." he replied, his voice laced with weariness.

And the exertion made itself evident on his features. He was far less cheerful now, and gone was that infantile boy who had once pursued her relentlessly. At times, it felt as if he had aged a decade in hardly a few months. She rarely saw him during the day, and most of the time, he returned at graveyard hours at night. 

His absence left a gnawing emptiness in her. For all her time devoted to training a section of female soldiers, and understanding the polity of Maahishmati, her evenings were still largely empty, and searched for her Shiva.

Yes, Shiva, her Shiva, the man who scaled the Jalparvat for her, the man who went to Maahishmati to further their mission of freeing The Imprisoned Queen of Kuntala.

And now, her Shiva was a Ruler, and a great one at that. Maahishmati acknowledged that in its state of recovery.

"Shiva!" Avanthika whispered earnestly as she pulled him into a sudden embrace. 

Mahendra doesn't flinch at the other name. He simply tightens his arms around her in response. 

"I've been a bad husband recently, haven't I?" he cupped her face in his palms.

_You have greater responsibilities than being my husband,_ her reason tells her.

"I love you, Shiva." she slips back into his chest. His chest his warm, strong, and as comfortable as it had always been.

She is answered by a brush of Mahendra's lips on her hair. 

His warmth assures her of his presence. His breath washes of the minutest misgivings brought about by his absence.

No matter what, she would always have this.


End file.
